The present disclosure relates to a musical training device for measuring the air support applied to a musical instrument, so that the musical training device alerts the musician when the air support applied to the instrument is sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone.
Wind musical instruments can be divided into two large classes, the woodwind instruments and the brass instruments. The woodwind instruments include those with reeds (saxophone, clarinet, oboe, and bassoon) and those with resonance openings (piccolo and flute). To produce sound the musician forms a pressure cavity with his mouth and blows air into or over (for piccolo and flute) the mouthpiece. The air travels through the reeded mouthpiece intermittently as the reed vibrates, or passes over the resonance opening in the flute and piccolo. Both actions cause the air mass in the mouthpiece to oscillate in pressure. This pressure oscillation then propagates into the musical instrument thereby producing sound. By varying the length of the air column in the instrument (by opening and closing valves on the instrument), tones of different frequencies are produced.
Many factors have an impact on the musical tone that is produced. The design of the instrument mouthpiece itself can have profound effects. For example, the design and depth of the tone chamber and the type of reed employed can alter the tone. In addition, the tuning or repair of the instrument can be a factor. These and other affects are equipment related. Parameters relating to the artist""s technique include air speed or air pressure (known in the field as air support) and embouchure, both of which are factors that affect the musical tone. Embouchure is the physical placement of the artist""s mouth on the instrument and includes the development of a pressure chamber to blow air into or over the mouthpiece. Air pressure in the mouth cavity and air velocity in a stream of air blown from the mouth are directly related mathematically (Bernoulli equation). Teachers of woodwind instruments are generally agreed that the foundational parameter for proper technique in these instruments is air support (pressure) for reeds, or air speed for flutes and piccolo.
The role of the embouchure is to provide an efficient pressure chamber by which to direct air into the mouthpiece and to allow the reed to vibrate freely or provide the correct flow (speed) of air over the open hole (flute and piccolo). A correct air support will strengthen the embouchure, while a weak one will damage it. In short, without proper air support, the student cannot produce a tone even with a good embouchure. If the musician does not produce the proper air support, the tendency is to compensate for the improper air support by altering the embouchure. As a result, a poor musical tone will be produced. Therefore, it is essential that a musician learn how to produce the proper air support consistently as the baseline for proper musical technique development.
In order to avoid the problems that are associated with improper air support, music instructors spend a great deal of time teaching musicians how to produce the necessary air support that will produce an acceptable musical tone. However, it is quite difficult to teach a student how to produce the proper air support without some feedback on the results of his or her efforts. Unless the musician already knows how producing the correct air support relates to an acceptable musical tone, the musician will require an instructor or some other knowledgeable observer in order to learn the correct level of air support. Furthermore proper air support varies with the instrument.
There are several training devices that are currently available that attempt to teach a musician how to produce the proper air support. However, they all suffer from disadvantages in their use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,368 to Kase describes a breath air flow device that can be used to measure the air support applied to the device and provides a gauge readout of the air pressure downstream of the mouthpiece. A standard mouthpiece can be connected to the device, and the resistance of the device to the air that is flowed through the mouthpiece can be changed by opening and closing an aperture in the device in order to simulate the xe2x80x9cfeelxe2x80x9d of different musical instruments. However, the device described by Kase suffers from the disadvantage that no sound is produced. While a musician may be able to correlate the feel of producing air support that produces a certain pressure reading, the musician will not be able to associate how producing that level of air support feels with how an acceptable musical tone sounds. In addition, since the musician is not using his/her own instrument, the musician must manipulate the aperture to make the device simulate the feel of his/her own instrument. Obviously, if the aperture setting is not correct, the device will not be even minimally effective as the musician will be training to produce an incorrect air support.
Therefore, what is needed is a training device that will measure the air support applied to a musical instrument and provide a signal to the musician when the air support is sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone. This feedback signal must be generated while the musician is playing the instrument in a normal fashion, i.e., without any interference from the measurement device. In this manner, the musician will be able to correlate the feel of producing an air support sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone with the sound of that tone. In addition, since the needed device allows a musician to use his/her own instrument, the issue of training to produce an air support that may be correct for a training device, but not appropriate for the musician""s instrument is made mute. The present disclosure describes such a device.
The present disclosure describes a musical training device that can measure the air support applied to a musical instrument and alert the musician when he or she is providing sufficient air support to produce an acceptable musical tone. In addition, the device can be incorporated into a musical instrument without altering the manner and style in which the musical instrument is played. Therefore, the musician can correlate the feel of producing an air support sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone with the sound of the musical tone. There are no special adjustments to be made by the musician to the device to attain the benefits described as was required by many of the devices of the prior art.
The present disclosure describes a musical training device comprising a modified mouthpiece and a pressure sensor operationally coupled to the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is of conventional design for a given type of musical instrument and comprises a directing means, such as an air passage within the mouthpiece, to direct at least a portion of the air support applied to the instrument to the pressure sensor. The pressure sensor comprises a measuring means, an indicating means and a housing to contain at least a portion of the above components. The measuring means comprises the components required to measure the air support applied to the instrument by a musician and to determine when the air support applied to the musical instrument is sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone. The indicating means is functionally coupled to the measuring means and comprises the components necessary to alert the musician when the measuring means determines the air support applied to the instrument is sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone. The housing comprises the components required to functionally arrange the components of the pressure sensor. In one embodiment, the measuring means comprises a flexible diaphragm in communication with a spring switch and a power source, the power source separated from the spring switch by a distance. The indicating means may comprise a light emitting diode, an incandescent light bulb or similar element that is capable of alternating between a first state and a second state. In the description that follows, the first state will alert the musician that the air support applied to the instrument is sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone, while the second state will alert the musician that the air support applied to the instrument is not sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone. It is preferred that the first state be characterized by a light emitting from the indicating means and the second state be characterized by an absence of light emitting from the indicating means.
In operation, the indicating means is functionally coupled to the measuring means in such a manner that when the air support applied to the instrument reaches a predetermined level sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone, the measuring means causes an electrical circuit to close and current to flow through the indicating means, which causes the indicating means to switch to the first state. In the embodiment described above, when the air support is sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone, the diaphragm flexes upward, an amount sufficient to bring the spring switch into contact with the power source. As a result, current flows from the battery into the indicating means, causes the indicating means to switch to the first state.
The first state of the indicating means alerts the musician that the air support being applied to the instrument is sufficient to produce an acceptable musical tone. The indicating means may be visible to the musician only, to an observing party only (such as a music instructor) or to both the musician and an observing party. It is preferred that at least the musician be able to view the indicating means at all times. Since the musician is provided with immediate feedback regarding the proper air support needed to produce an acceptable musical tone, the musician can learn and train to associate the correct air pressure with an acceptable musical tone.
The detailed description, in conjunction with the figures provided, will discuss various embodiments of the musical training device and its method of operation. The musical training device of the present disclosure can be adapted to fit any woodwind musical instrument, including, but not limited to, the saxophone, clarinet, piccolo and flute. For the instruments that are played by blowing a stream of air over a resonance opening (flute and piccolo), a pitot tube may be used to measure the air velocity. The pitot tube is a gas dynamic device that converts air velocity to air pressure (commonly used on airplanes). It is positioned on the mouthpiece at a location such that at least a portion of the air stream from the player""s mouth impacts the tube and is converted to pressure. Hence for all the woodwind instruments, air support produced by the musician is the quantity measured by the musical training device herein disclosed. The figures described below illustrate a musical training device intended for use with a clarinet, but this illustration is way of example only and should not limit the scope of the present disclosure.